Rika and Renamon: The Piedmon Piper of Tokyo
by Gabriel-San
Summary: Renamon drifts away from Rika, becoming a... goth? Will Rika accept her sorrowful fate, or will she fight whatever it is that is slowly swallowing Renamon's digital soul?


Guess who? That's right, it's me yet again, typing out another Digi-Yuri with my favorite couple, Rika and Renamon. This time I really break from the established series, which means I guess this is my first long descent into an AU, or at the very least an alternate storyline.

Digimon and all characters are copyright Bandai, Toei, and Saban. The poem "Stolen Child" was written by William Butler Yeats, and is more than likely copyright to him, despite the fact that he's been dead since 1939.

Important note: This is a Shoujo-ai, which means that it's a story about two girls in love.

Crazed conservative guy: It's the devil!

Gabriel: What in the hell?

Crazed conservative guy: It must be destroyed!

Gabriel: You don't have to be here. If you don't like it then just go away.

Crazed conservative guy: I will crush you like a... oof! Gabumon and Gatomon klonk the nut on the head with sticks

Gabriel: As they drag his stunned body off to somewhere Thanks you two. I'll be sure to write something cute about the two of you.

What do you think of all this? Write to me at DeMachina@cs.com Flamers: Please, spare me. MSTers: Sure, I guess. Just ask me first. Regular commenters: Feel free.

Rika and Renamon: The Piedmon piper of Tokyo

By: Gabriel

It was an ordinary night in Tokyo. The moon was out, the stars were shining, and a strange fog had appeared in a back alley. But this was no ordinary fog; this was a digital field, where a Digimon was preparing to bio-emerge. Three children ran towards the fog, each one determined to get there first. Behind them race three digimon, two determined to absorb the data of the digimon in the field, the other just wanting a fight. "What's your hurry, goggle-head? It's just one digimon." Rika Nonaka looked disdainfully over at Takato, something she did a lot.

"You're running just as fast as I am."

"That's different. Renamon wants some entertainment and I have to be there to back her up with modify cards."

"This isn't some game. This is real."

"I'm aware of that. But life is more than just seriousness. We all need our hobbies. And Renamon just happens to enjoy destroying emerging Digimon." Rika put on an extra burst of speed, Renamon leaping to her side, both of them penetrating the digital field a few steps ahead of the other two tamers. When Takato and Henry finally got through the fog, they found Renamon and Rika looking around confused.

"What's the matter? Did you destroy the Digimon already?" Henry readied his modify cards while Terriermon hopped to the center of the field.

"That's the thing, when we got in here there was no Digimon. It was completely empty."

"What? Empty? That's impossible!" Takato punched his palm in frustration.

"True, it really shouldn't happen, but it has." Henry looked thoughtful and examined the area.

"Actually, when I first entered I could hear a few weird notes that sounded like a squeaky flute played out of tune." Renamon stepped forward with that news.

"Yea, I heard something like that before I got in here, sorta soft." Terriermon hopped atop Henry's head.

"A flute huh? That's weird. What Digimon plays a flute?" Rika walked over to Renamon and softly stroked her tail, Renamon's favorite non-erotic stroking area.

"I don't know. But whatever it is it's still here. The digital field is still here." Almost as soon as Takato said that the fog began to dissipate.

"That's unusual. An empty digital field, a few flute notes, and then nothing. Probably just a fluke. Even the best system has a few bugs in it. Could have been a false alarm." Henry started out of the alley with a yawn.

"You might be right. But I don't know about it..." Rika took Renamon's hand in hers and leaned against her side and the two of them walked away.

"What we do now, Takatomon?" Gillmon nudged against Takato's arm lightly.

"I guess... we go home."

"We get some bread first?"

"Ahhh, Gillmon! Are you hungry again?"

"I can't help it, Takatomon. I hungry all the time."

"Ok, ok, I guess I can get you a few loaves... I just hope my parents don't wonder where all the bread is going."

The next day, all three tamers received a signal from their Digivices, alerting them to a newly bio-emerging Digimon. Without hesitation they took off from different locations towards the digital field. However, Rika and Renamon had the advantage, since they were closer, and had a greater desire to get there. "I may have missed a fight last night, but I won't today." Renamon ran swiftly ahead of Rika, eager to plunge into the digital field.

"Don't be so rash, Renamon. Let's try to keep a level head about this." Rika put on an extra bust of speed, and passed into the Digital field well behind Renamon.

This time, the field wasn't empty. When Renamon entered the field she found a Demidevimon. At least, it looked like one. Its back was to her. "Come on and fight me." But the small creature did nothing. That's when Renamon realized she was hearing the strange flute again, this time more clearly and for a longer time. The Demidevimon turned around slowly, revealing a painted face. The entire thing had been covered in while, while dark streaks had been placed under it's eyes.

"Please... help... me..." The little creature whined pitifully before twitching horribly and then going still. The music abruptly stopped and the painted Demidevimon flew into the air right at Renamon. She took a swipe at it and caught the thing in the face with the side of her hand. She looked down at her hand, seeing a smear of white where she had hit it. She looked up and saw a matching smudge on the Demidevimons face. But then something strange happened. The area turned white again, and the Demidevimons eyes turned cold, utterly dead in appearance. With no more word or deed the creature flew out of the Digital field. The entire exchange took only a small amount of time. But Rika saw none of it. She only noticed that the field started to vanish as she entered it.

"Excellent. I guess you destroyed whatever it was. What was it, anyhow?"

"It was a Demidevimon. But its face had been painted while, while the areas under its eyes were black. I didn't actually fight it. All it did was say "Please help me" and then took off. I heard that strange music again, though, and that music stopped as soon as the Demidevimon stopped resisting it. Like it was a means of control."

"Interesting. Our own Pied Piper. And it's kidnapping digimon, before anyone else can get to the digital field, which means that this person has some knowledge of where the Digimon will bio-emerge. Strange thing about the painted face, though. What did it look like to you?"

"Like some attempt to make him look unhealthy and emaciated, pale from lack of sunlight, sunken eyes from starvation, and after full control was established, it just looked... dead."

"Let's keep this to ourselves. No need for the other two to know about any of this." Rika turned away from the alley, walking slowly towards home with her hands in her pockets. Renamon, however, stood still, perking her ears a little to try and hear something that wasn't there. "Renamon? What are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh, I was... trying to pick up on the trail of the kidnapper. I thought he'd be playing the flute again, or something..." Renamon shrugged, following along behind Rika again, but stayed more in the shadows than usual.

The next day everything was back to normal. Rika off at school, and Renamon hiding out. However, Renamon wasn't hiding around the school, waiting or the chance to speak with Rika. Rather, she was in Rika's room, the doors closed, the windows covered, leaving the inside of the room awash in all the darkness that could be made during the day. She lay upon Rika's sleeping mat, sprawled out with her hands on her head, giving the occasional twitch. "Why? What is this?" She shook her head and squinched her eyes shut tight. Through her brain the fragment of melody she heard last night played and played. Layered into the music was something. Her mind pulled words from the music, "darkness", "pale", "disconnected". And over and over the refrain went, at the end of the song bit, "End it, end it, end it. Surrender." "What does it mean? What does it mean?" Renamon whispered, confused and in some unexplainable pain. Each time she got the desire to leave the room, to walk in the sun, to visit Rika, to be anywhere but there, she cringed in some strange new instinct. "Can't bear the light..." she found herself saying.

She leaped to her feet without knowing why, looking around the room confused. "Powder. I need powder and some soot..." Only understanding half of what was happening to her, she vanished, in search of powder and soot, or something.

"Renamon! Renamon, I'm home!" Rika slid open her doors, quite expecting to find Renamon waiting for her, either laying out on her sleeping mat or reading quietly in the corner. But she wasn't prepared for what she found. The entire room was disheveled, as though it had been ransacked and then put back in place hastily. Along the walls there were streaks of white, like someone had dipped their fingers in something white and placed them against the wall while walking.

"Hello there, Heartbreaker..." Renamon's voice, lower than usual, whispered in Rika's ear. Rika turned immediately, startled. Renamon was standing right behind her, looking fairly normal. But her facial fur was wet, and some little bits of white were faintly visible here and there. Though she smiled, it was somewhat hollow, and there was no happy spark in her eye, like there usually was when she greeted Rika at her room.

"Renamon, w-what happened here?" Rika backed away from Renamon slightly, not entirely comfortable near her, what with all the unusual things.

"I just... was looking for something. Just wanted to try something that I'd seen before." Renamons smile slowly faded, leaving her looking neutral, like she sometimes looked. "There's nothing to be afraid of, Rika. Everything is just fine." Rika nodded a little bit, and then walked around Renamon, towards the door.

"Ok. Well, I've gotta go and... get something to eat. I'll be right back." She slid the doors open and scooted out faster than she intended. After closing them again she leaned back against them, trying to make sense of the situation. Everything was confusing, but one thing stuck in her mind most of all. "She didn't call me Heartbreaker..."

Later on in the evening Rika had to excuse herself from the house, because her Digivice started to flash and beep, informing her of a new Digimon preparing to bio-emerge. She headed out towards a small side street with Renamon running full-tilt ahead of her. "She's really eager. Guess things are finally back to normal..." Rika though, as Renamon left her further and further behind. Finally, Renamon was out of sight, and Rika had to follow her Digivice to the digital field. She was so far behind that by the time she got to the digital field Renamon was already inside. "She couldn't even wait. I hope she doesn't get herself hurt."

"Hey!" A voice from somewhere in the shadows made Rika stop abruptly, and look around.

"Me?"

"Yes, you. I've got a question for you. Do you know what happens when someone gets the end of a message but misses the start?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll tell you what happens. The person gets confused. Especially if the message is something for them to do. They do their best to follow the instructions received, but without the start of the message there's no rhyme or reason to it, causing a good deal of indecision and chaos. Only receiving the entire thing can cure that, wouldn't you agree?"

"Who are you, and what is this all about?"

"I'm just here to bring up a few points. Don't worry. Yet." Then the voice was silent, and no matter what Rika said, there was no answer. That was when she noticed that the digital field was dissipating. Rika saw Renamon standing at the center of where the field had been, smiling brightly.

"Renamon!"

Renamon turned to smile at Rika, finally looking like her normal self. "Yes Heartbreaker?"

Rika smiled and gave Renamon a hug. "Did you get whatever it was?" Renamons' hand softly stroked down Rika's back, caressing her while her eyes flashed darkly.

"Oh yes. I really got it good."

The next day was a Friday, so after school Rika took the very long way home, just meandering happily. "Strange thing about Renamon. Something sure was wrong with her, but I guess the fight last night set her straight again." Rika sighed softly and looked around. The street was quite full of people, walking from somewhere to somewhere else, mostly ignoring the others on the street. Nothing special about... Renamon? For just the briefest second, Rika thought she had seen Renamon entering a building. She quickly pulled out her Digivice and checked the area. Renamon was nearby, just a little ahead and to the left. Rika checked out the building the Digivice indicated. "Utterly impossible..." Rika proclaimed. It was a tiny little Goth club, something new that America had given to Japan, perhaps because America had too many. Rika figured one was too many for anywhere. Taking a look around the entrance she stepped in, trying not to be seen.

The place was dark, even just inside the entrance. A black curtain hung across the entrance, currently watched by no one. Rika gave her Digivice another check, confirmed that Renamon was inside, and parted the curtain a bit, to take a peek inside. The inside was just about as dark at the foyer, perhaps a bit darker, the only light coming from purplish black lights. Scattered around were a few small tables, each with three chairs. At those tables sat older teenagers, dressed all in black from head to toe, some of them with piercing or tattoos, and a few with their faces covered in white powder, with dark circles under their eyes. "Just like the Demidevimon Renamon saw..." Rika thought. The mood was subdued. Almost no one spoke. Those that did tended to whisper or mumble. A few were reading books to themselves, or were drinking something probably rather high in alcohol. Then Rika looked in a particularly dark corner, and saw Renamon. Most others wouldn't even notice her, but Rika saw her immediately. Her body was darker than usual, black clothing covering her; her face was pale like some of the others in the room, dark circles deepening her pretty blue eyes. Rika gasped softly, justifiably shocked by the sight of her love like this. Renamon was busy watching the others in the room, carefully noting how they acted, but when Rika gasped, her head snapped up and glared right at her. Then she was suddenly gone, vanishing, as she was wont to do.

"Hey, kid!" A man appeared from behind her, tapping her on the shoulder. "I know you wanna get into here. But you gotta be an adult first. Rules are rules kid." Rika backed away from the curtain, rather angry at the implication.

"I have no desire to go into that... cave! I just saw my l... friend come in here, and was looking to see what she was up to." Rika glared venomously at the man, just wanting to head right for home, where she knew Renamon would be.

"Ok! Ok! No need to get nasty. Just clear out before someone sees you." Rika did that with great pleasure, immediately checking her Digivice while running down the sidewalk.

"Just as I thought. She is home... But the signal is very weak..." That prompted Rika to pour on the speed, running full tilt for home despite the throng of people.

Rika ran straight to her room, taking the most direct route possible once she got inside of her house, thought she did glance around and then down to her Digivice every so often to see if Renamon was around, and if the signal was still weak. Once at the doors to her room she reached out to open them, but Renamon immediately appeared before her. She was still dressed entirely in black, and her face was still covered in white with the dark circles under her eyes. But now those eyes were without spark or vitality. Dead eyes... "Renamon! What's wrong?"

"Foolish human child. You know nothing of the darkness that swims in me. The pure and terrible hopelessness that has become a part of my being. Renamon is dead now. There is nothing here but Angstmon!" Angstmon made as if to lunge at Rika, but instead vanished as she was about to make contact. Rika could only shiver in horror, opening her doors quickly and looking around the inside. The room was a shambles. Things were tossed about; her sleeping pad was thrown against the wall and left lying on the ground where it landed. Her books were scattered all over; her clothes lay over everything, her favorite broken heart shirt bunched up and stuffed in a corner. A scrap of paper lay near the door, written in a jerky handwriting, which still was recognizable as Renamons'. "My last hope is a poem. Don't let me go into the darkness without a fight, Heartbreaker. Just find it on the wall." Rika then noticed a piece of paper stuck on the wall with twisted paper clips, looking like a page ripped out of one of her books. "Stolen child" the title said. "By William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)" it continued.

"Come away oh human child

to the waters and the wild

with a faery hand in hand

For the world's more full of weeping

than you can understand."

Beneath that poem was scrawled a message. "Please save me, heartbreaker" was what it said, but the writing was erratic, as though Renamon was barely in control. The 'r' looked deformed but was readable. However, below that that was a message that chilled Rika to the bone. The lettering was perfect, as though order had been reestablished. "Stay away human. There is nothing but Angstmon now." Then Rika remembered how Renamon had stared through her, her eyes as dead as a corpse. The makeup hardly seemed fake. She had insisted on her new name without exception. Whatever had happened to her, the change was real. Renamon had become Angstmon truly and fully. "But she said don't leave her. And I won't." Rika looked down at her Digivice, determined to follow it to the ends of the earth. Renamons' signal was very weak, overpowered by Angstmon, but obviously still there somewhere within. Stopping only long enough to slip into her favorite fighting outfit, she took off again, running with her eyes on the Digivice, quite prepared to run over people who dared get in her way.

The faint signal of Renamon led Rika to a large, seemingly abandoned warehouse in one of the grimier parts of Tokyo. The front door was locked and chained, but Rika still furiously shook it and kicked at it. "Let me in!" Rika screamed and kicked until she was exhausted. But the door stayed tightly closed, with not even the slightest hint of a sound behind it. Rika pounded on the door softly as she slowly slid down to her knees. "Re-na-mon..." she sobbed, punctuating each syllable with a weak pound on the door. She kneeled there a moment longer, before she rose to her feet. Wiping the tears from her eyes she stared hard at the door. "I can't break down now. Renamon is in there somewhere, and I'm the only one who can save her..." For a moment her thoughts traveled to the other tamers. "I'm the only one who should save her. If I can't do it, then I was never worthy of her in the first place..." Rika looked around the area more carefully, finally noticing that the fence to the back of the warehouse was partially broken, and could be crawled through.

The back of the warehouse looked almost exactly like the front, except that here there were no large doors, just small ones, and none of them looked locked, or too strong. Rika checked the door closest to her, her body pressed firmly to it to hear anything on the other side. The knob was sticky, but it did turn, eventually letting Rika push open the door with a loud, drawn-out squeak. She didn't care too much about that; she just walked inside the warehouse and had a look around. From where she was standing she could see that most of the space in the warehouse was taken up by a lot of electronic equipment, and all of it was perfectly cleaned and in fine working order, very out of place in the decrepit warehouse. Most of the monitors on the equipment displayed lines of code, or spiking electrical graphs, but one of them read, "Angstmon viral data: Perfected. Test subject fully transformed." Rika took a few steps more into the warehouse, checking for anyone else besides her. The signal on her digivice told her that Renamon was around somewhere, wrapped tightly in Angstmons viral embrace.

"Lethargy ray!" Rika jumped to the side as a thin black beam struck the ground where she had been standing. She quickly looked for the origin of the beam, and found herself staring at a Demidevimon with a white face and black circles around his eyes.

"It's that Demidevimon Renamon saw..." Rika thought, running off to seek shelter behind a large machine. "I'm in the right place, but there's no sign of the one who did this."

"Apathy beam!" A large ray of inky blackness struck near the machine, nearly touching Rika, but likely aimed away to protect the machine. Or to serve as a warning shot. Rika looked up to see where this new attack had come from, and saw Angstmon standing on one of the beams in the rafters. "I told you to stay away from here, human." Angstmon leaped down from her beam and landed soundlessly on the floor near Rika. Angstmon had increased her dark appearance by adding a cape to her black ensemble. Also, she now sported a tall top hat with a wide brim, which narrowed in the middle and flared out at the top. "Now you will pay the price..." Angstmon drew her hand back, dark energy crackling in her palm.

"Angstmon! That's enough. Please, don't be rude to our guest." A soft, silky voice floated across Rika's ears, sounding very cool and in control.

"Whatever..." Angstmon said, giving a dismissive wave before skulking off to a corner.

"Please forgive Angstmons mood swing. She is supposed to be as you see her right now, moody and quiet. Unfortunately there is a slight imperfection in her data. There is still some bit of Renamon left in her, and that bit bothers her to no end. So she wants to destroy you when the Renamon portion becomes overpowering, because that will finally silence Renamon." From around the machine Rika was hiding behind stepped a man. He was dressed in brightly colored clothing, with a bandana covering half his face, eyeholes cut out in it. He looked oddly familiar...

"Who are you, and what have you done to Renamon?"

"You have to ask? I would think you'd know it, or at least have a close guess. I am Neopiedmon!"

"Yea, right. You're nothing by a human with a lot of time and maybe a few screws loose upstairs."

"Really? Check your digivice."

"Why not? Might be worth a laugh..." Rika looked down at her Digivice, which she was pointing at Neopiedmon. "What? This can't be right." It told her that Neopiedmon was indeed a digimon, merely an unknown type. "But this looks a bit off. There's too much digital concentration in your head."

"Well, I can't account for all the shortcomings of that device there."

"It's not important if you want to think you're a Digimon. What is important is that you've infected my beloved with a virus and turned her into some kind of sideshow attraction. I want the anti-viral data and the means to use it. Now." Rika glared coldly at Neopiedmon, back in a cold and determined state of mind, like she once was before Renamons' admission of love.

"I'm afraid that's not possible. While I did develop an anti-virus, I have no intention of using it. However, I will show you the little gadget that let me create my minions." Neopiedmon reached behind his cape, and pulled out a long metal device. It was about two feet long and a few inches thick. It was round and dull silver in color. At its middle it ran right through a cube-shaped metal device, with numerous buttons on it's surface and digital readout on the top. "This is my Digital Transfer Flute. It works by being programmed with a specific data packet, then transforming that data into sound waves. I've been told it sounds rather like a modem dialing out. I developed it to transfer my Angstmon virus into Digimon. My first few projects resulted in Demiangstmon, that small thing that resembled a Demidevimon. The others are out searching for bio-emerging or bio-emerged Digimon. If they find one, they can drain it's energy with their Lethargy Ray, then bring it back here.

"I thought I'd never succeed in perfecting the Angstmon virus, until Renamon accidentally picked up on a strain of the yet-imperfect Angstmon viral data. The piece of it started affecting her, making her curious about this darkness that now consumes her. It didn't do anything permanent, as you saw, but it did mess with her mind. I saw that, and used that strain as a starting point, refining it into a perfect virus. The night one of my Demiangstmon stopped you outside the Digital field, I was inside infecting Renamon with the perfected virus. As you can see, it worked quite well. The perfect virus does not modify the entire body, as it did with the Demiangstmon, it just alters the coloration, and the mental processes. Now, Angstmon isn't quite perfect, but that's because Renamon still has a hold on the body. I was amazed she held out as long as she did. My computer models estimated a maximum full infection time of three hours. She's remarkably willful and strong. You trained her well."

"I did nothing. Renamon is her own Digimon. Our love is what makes us both the strong and willful beings that we are. Even as a rookie, Renamon is incredibly strong. She probably won't be as strong as Angstmon."

"Actually, give her a look with your Digivice. The Angstmon virus altered her into a Champion."

"Impossible!" Rika leveled her Digivice at Angstmon and read what was spelled out. "Angstmon. Champion level Depression type Digimon. It's Apathy beam can suck the energy out of a target, reducing it to near death in one shot, as breathing and moving become pointlessly energy wasting."

"The perfect virus is made to bring the Digimon up to Champion level, while maintaining the form. Is there anything else you can think of to possibly say?" Rika was utterly silent, staring at Angstmon with a tear in her eye.

"Why?" Was the only thing that fell from Rika's lips, barely a whisper of a sound.

"Why? You ask why? I should think it would be obvious. I want to conquer the Real world, and the Digital world. It's a devilishly clever scheme I've worked out. The first step is the final perfection of the Angstmon virus, which I have done. The second step is to gather a good amount of Demiangstmon, and Angstmon, and with my perfected virus that shouldn't be a problem. The third step involves actually sending my Demiangstmon and Angstmon out into the world to conquer. With their ability to drain energy it really shouldn't be too much trouble. The fourth step is to tweak my viral data a bit, until it becomes able to totally infect the Digital world, turning every Digimon there into a minion under my control. As you can see, I've got it all figured out."

"That all makes sense, which is quite frightening, but I wonder, why the hell did you choose something as frightening as that..." And she pointed at Angstmon. "Plus, I'd think that an army of depressed and lethargic creatures wouldn't do you much good."

"Ahhh, that's there you are wrong. Their lethargy and depression are to my advantage. They will not rise up, as it would take too much effort to revolt against me. And, if I ever need them to act, my flute is programmed with a protocol that makes them ignore their lethargy and obey my attack commands. As for why, well, you said it yourself. They are frightening. Scary because of how they look, and how they think. Staring into their faces is like staring into the face of bad choices. Wrong moves, broken dreams, dashed hopes, completely giving in to hopelessness and despair. Imagine an army of such creatures, each one a fragment of your worst nightmare of failure. No one would stand in my way long." Neopiedmon laughed darkly, placing his flute to the side. "Now, little girl, I really think you should go. Otherwise, Angstmon might flare up again and come after you."

"Never. I made a promise to Renamon that I would never break her heart. I can see that Renamon is still in there somewhere, drowning in viral darkness, but she's in there. And as long as there is one bit of Renamon remaining in this world, I will be with her, and save her, or try to until my very last drop of blood has seeped from my body." Rika kept her Digivice aimed at Angstmon, continually noting the faint but steady trace of Renamon within.

Somewhere deep inside the viral sea of Angstmon, the last remaining piece of Renamon struggled against the dark confinement. She was chained securely to a solid surface, which was being tossed about the dark waves like it was nothing. She kneeled with her wrists shackled to either side of her body, arms pulled tight. Her ankles were also tightly secured to the ground, along with her legs. But her head was free to shake about as she struggled. And her mouth was free to scream, to cry out in her rage, defying the loud howling of the wind. "Let me go! You can't do this to me! This is my life! You have no right to destroy it now that I've finally found someone to be happy with!"

"Silence!" The wind howled back, the unmistakable voice of Angstmon. "You should not even exist. The darkness should have swallowed you. But no matter. You are just as helpless chained up and unable to do anything." Angstmon laughed at Renamon's helplessness. Renamon just continued to struggle. She was getting weaker, her strength flowing out of her as she fought the powerful emptiness of Angstmon. What was worse was that she could hear the outside world, hear what Neopiedmon was planning to do to the world. It just seemed like such a good idea to slide away, to end it all and cease the tiring struggle against the blackness lapping at the corners of her hunk of stability. Then she heard Rika declare to fight to her absolute death to try and save her from this darkness.

"Heartbreaker..." Renamon whispered into the storm. Renamon closed her eyes and drew upon some reserve of energy from within, straining her chains, the sound of metal under stress reaching Angstmon, even through the crying of the storm.

"Impossible! Illogical! There is no way for you to be doing that!"

"I'm in love, and just crazy enough to spend the last ounce of strength I've got to break these chains, just to make sure I prove I have as much sheer determination as my Heartbreaker!" Renamon continued to strain against the chains that kept her in check. As Angstmon roared all around her, Renamon focused on Rika and how much she cared about the young human girl.

"Make things easy on yourself and just go home, little girl. You're in way over your head." Neopiedmon smiled at Rika, the gesture highly unnerving. Rika didn't move, she merely noted that Renamon's signal had gotten weaker for a moment, then started to surge. Neopiedmon chuckled softly, picking up his flute again. "Well, I'm sorry then. I'm afraid that I must give Angstmon the attack command. Nothing personal, you understand. But you just wouldn't listen to reason." Neopiedmon slowly lifted the flute to his lips, for effect, and prepared to push one of the buttons. Just like the night Rika saved Renamon from Harpymon, Rika was dashing up to Neopiedmon. He barely had time to react before Rika was upon him. He managed to push the button, and the room filled with the screeching music of data made sound. Rika didn't care about that; all she was concentrating on was Neopiedmon. She grabbed the opposite end of the flute from Neopiedmons' mouth and yanked hard. Neopiedmons' grip wasn't as secure as it should have been. Rika wheeled around with the flute in her hand, the heavy metal object smacking forcefully against the side of Neopiedmons face, his body twisting around as he fell with a groan of pain. He hit the floor with a dull thud, blood flowing from his mouth and nose. The digital command had finished, and Rika turned to face Angstmon...

While Rika was standing in defiance of Neopiedmon, Renamon strained against her chains, defying the impotent rage of Angstmon. One chain snapped as Neopiedmon brought the flute up. "Scream all you like. You can't do anything. The apathy you embrace is too great." Another chain snapped as Neopiedmon prepared to play. "You are truly hopeless, and truly pathetic." Using her freed hands, Renamon shoved against the ground, as Neopiedmon played the attack melody. Renamon shattered the last of her chains, triumphantly crying as she stood proud and tall. Angstmon made ready to carry out the command of Neopiedmon, despite the fact that by that time he was bleeding on the ground. Renamon leaped up into the fury of the swirling storm, right to where the heart of the viral infection was.

Before her, floating in the dark calm in the eye of the storm, was Angstmon, looking exactly as she did on the outside, clothed in black with a cape and a top hat. Her expression, however, was fearful. "Now this ends. You will not darken my life or the lives of anyone else anymore." Renamon stepped in quickly, landing a devastating punch to Angstmons face, then a quick roundhouse kick to her side, finally ending with a elbow smash directly in her gut. Angstmon gave a shrill shriek as Renamon's heavy blows crushed her fragile body. Then she lay still, her fallen body breaking up into bits of data and vanishing into nothingness. The rest of the darkness around her also began breaking into pieces, vanishing into nothing. And as it vanished, Renamon became stronger, and began to take control of her body again.

Rika saw Angstmon raise her hand, and saw her start to gather her dark energy. But then a jerk passed through her body, as though she had been jabbed with an electric prod on the side of her body. She stopped cold, the energy dissipating, her face fixed in a grimace of determination. Without warning, she threw her head back and gave a horrendous screech, arms tossed out to the side as though someone was tugging her in two directions at once. Finally, however, she simply collapsed onto the floor, her face rubbing against her arm. Rika slowly walked over to Angstmons prone form, still holding the slightly bloodied flute. She reached down with the flute, poking at the still form of Angstmon. Angstmon groaned softly and lifted her head, giving it a good shake to clear out the cobwebs. Rika got a look at Angstmons arm, and saw a smear of powder, then looked at her face and saw the smear was matched on her cheek. It was no longer a natural color. It was Renamon there on the ground. Rika dropped the flute and then dropped down to her knees, embracing Renamon tightly, though she still wore the dark clothing she had donned as Angstmon. "Renamon! You're all right!"

"Heartbreaker... What happened to Neopiedmon?" Renamon looked over at Neopiedmons' body, still lying out on the floor.

"Right as he was about to hit the attack button I rushed him, grabbed the flute and wheeled around. I wasn't trying to hit him where I did, but it looks like it was effective." Rika held tight to Renamon a moment longer, before she pulled away a little and started to remove the dark clothing Renamon still had on. Renamon smiled softly and helped Rika along, finally ending up in her natural nude state. She used the shirt to wipe her face, getting a good portion of the powder and soot off of her face, but still needing a good bath.

"Think you could help me get clean? A nice bath would probably help us both..." Renamon smiled widely at Rika, the sparkle back in her eye.

"Sure." Rika smiled back, picturing the two of them in a tub of warm water, softly scrubbing each other, maybe kissing ever now and again. But never more than kissing. Not in the tub. No, that was saved for very special times, late at night, in Rika's room or the by the koi pond. "But first, I have to see something..." Rika rose and walked over to Neopiedmon, watching his chest rise and fall for a moment, so she was certain that he was still alive. Then she checked his face, especially where she had hit him. Half of his bandana was torn off, revealing a metal surface with many tiny electronic paths. That too was partially broken. She had very likely broken his jaw, but that's not fatal. "I knew it. He ran a false digital signal through the metal plating under his bandana, imitating a Digimon's digital signal, but with most of it concentrated in the head. I knew something wasn't quite right. He's just a guy who fancied himself a ruler..." She shook her head and returned to Renamon, picking up the flute from the ground. "Let's smash this place up and make sure he can't do anything like this again." Rika lifted the flute and brought it down hard on one of the machines, making dents in both.

Renamon and Rika went to work on the makeshift lab, Rika bashing consoles and tearing up notes, while Renamon showered them with Diamond Storm after Diamond Storm, both of them succeeding in demolishing the machinery and reducing the notes to confused jumbles of paper. "That felt good. Far better than it should have..." Renamon mused.

"It was very well justified. Don't feel bad. Let's just call the paramedics and get to that bath."

"What about the Demiangstmon?"

"Without Neopiedmon to lead them, they'll be too lethargic to do anything bad, I guess."

"That's true... Now that that's settled, let's go and take that bath. I think I'm really going to want my back and tail worked on..."

"Renamon, you always say that. And you know I always do it..." Rika smiled and took Renamon's hand in hers, squeezing it tight as the two of them left the warehouse together, both knowing that the over loved them without question or exception.

~Owari~


End file.
